thread
n. C / Un. a long, thin piece of cotton or silk used for sewing. It also means a series of connected messages in an online discussion or a single story line in a book.
n. a fine strand of twisted fibre used in sewing or weaving; by extension, a series of connected messages in an electronic discussion or a consistent theme within a narrative.
I need a needle and some blue thread to fix my shirt.
If you want to follow the debate, you should read the entire Twitter thread from the beginning.
The novelist skillfully weaves a secondary thread through the plot, connecting the protagonist's childhood memories to the central mystery of the present day.
From Middle English thred, þred, threed, from Old English þrǣd, from Proto-Germanic þrēduz, from Proto-Indo-European treh₁-tu-s, from *terh₁- (“rub, twist”). Cognates Cognate with Yola dreade (“thread”), Saterland Frisian Träid (“thread, wire”), Cimbrian draat (“string, thread”), Dutch draad (“thread, wire”), German Draht (“thread, wire”), Luxembourgish Drot (“wire”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish tråd (“thread, wire”), Faroese tráður (“thread”), Icelandic þráður (“thread”). Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian dredh (“twist, turn”). More at throw.
Countable when referring to specific lengths of fibre or online discussion sequences; uncountable when referring to the material in general.
- 01
hang by a thread
To be in danger, calling for precise caution; to be in a precarious situation.
- 02
thread of thought
A train of thought; a thought process.
- 03
thread the needle
To perform a tedious task with extreme precision; to manage to find harmony or strike a balance between conflicting forces, interests, etc.